Brian Leonard Ostrosser (born June 17, 1949) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

who appeared in four games for the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

in 1973 when injuries to several players left the team short of

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

s. He had a 1.000

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

fielding 5 chances without an

error An error (from the Latin , meaning 'to wander'Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “error (n.), Etymology,” September 2023, .) is an inaccurate or incorrect action, thought, or judgement. In statistics, "error" refers to the difference between t ...

.Brian Ostrosser Statistics
Baseball-Reference.com Although the Mets won the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

pennant in 1973 he was not on the postseason roster. He is one of the few Canadians to have played for the Mets. In 1974 he was traded to the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

for

Dwain Anderson Dwain Cleaven Anderson (born November 23, 1947) is an American former professional baseball shortstop. Oakland A's The El Cerrito High School standout signed as an amateur free agent with the Kansas City A's in at just seventeen years old. He ...

, but never played a Major League game for the Indians.

Baseball career

Ostrosser played Little League baseball in

Stoney Creek, Ontario Stoney Creek is a community in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario located 10 km east of Downtown Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton and 57 km south-west of Toronto. It was a municipality until 2001, ...

, where his team won the Ontario Little League title, losing the Canadian title to Montreal. He was signed to the Mets by scout Joe Sartorio in 1969. Ostrosser started his professional career in 1970, playing with both the

Rookie League Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National L ...

Marion Mets The Marion Mets were a minor league baseball team based in Marion, Virginia that played in the Appalachian League from 1965 to 1976. They were affiliated with the New York Mets and played their home games at the Marion High School baseball field. ...

and the Class A

Pompano Beach Mets The Pompano Beach Mets were a minor league baseball franchise located in Pompano Beach, FL that played in the Florida State League from 1969 to 1973. They were a farm team of the New York Mets and played at Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium. *Loc ...

that year. He spent the 1971 season with

Pompano Beach Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale and 36 miles north of Miami. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoa ...

, and was promoted to the

Class AA Double-A (officially Class AA) is the second-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946, below only Triple-A. There are currently 30 teams classified at the Double-A level, one for each team in Major League B ...

Memphis Blues The Memphis blues is a style of blues music created from the 1910s to the 1930s by musicians in the Memphis area, such as Frank Stokes, Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Memphis Minnie. The style was popular in vaudeville and medicine sho ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

in 1972. As Memphis' starting shortstop Ostrosser had a .262

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

in 470 at bats. He only had 21

extra base hits In baseball, an extra-base hit (EB, EBH or XBH), also known as a long hit, is any base hit on which the batter is able to advance past first base without the benefit of a fielder either committing an error or opting to make a throw to retire anot ...

for a .323

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

but his 71

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

s produced a solid .370

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

.Ultimate Mets Database – Brian Ostrosser
/ref> He led Texas League shortstops in fielding in 1972, and developed a reputation as an outstanding defensive shortstop. He played for

Class AAA Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...

Tidewater Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesape ...

briefly in 1972 and most of 1973. Although he started the 1973 season with Tidewater, he was not able to play until May due to an emergency operation to remove his

appendix Appendix (: appendices or appendixes) may refer to: __NOTOC__ In documents * Addendum, an addition made to a document by its author after its initial printing or publication * Bibliography, a systematic list of books and other works * Index (publis ...

during spring training. With Tidewater in 1973 Ostrosser had a batting average of .230 in 283 at-bats. His slugging percentage was just .297 but again a large number of walks (47 in this case) produced a solid on-base percentage of .354. It was during the 1973 that Ostrosser was briefly called up to the New York Mets to replace injured Met shortstop

Bud Harrelson Derrel McKinley "Bud" Harrelson (June 6, 1944 – January 11, 2024) was an American professional baseball shortstop, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Texas Rangers fro ...

. He made his major league debut against the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

on August 5, 1973, going 0 for 2, striking out twice. He also played two games against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

before his final Major League game on August 13, 1973 against the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...

. He did not get a hit in any of the 5 at-bats he received during his 4-game stint with the Mets. As of 2009, he was one of six Canadians to have played for the Mets, and was the last Canadian to play for the Mets until

Jason Bay Jason Raymond Bay (born September 20, 1978) is a Canadian-American former professional baseball left fielder who played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Initially drafted by the Montreal Expos, he played for the San Diego Padres, Pitts ...

joined the team in 2009. As of the beginning of 1973, he was one of just four Canadians in the

, and the only Canadian non-pitcher. In 1974 Ostrosser played again for Tidewater but had a batting average of just .192 in 172 at-bats with no home runs. Even another impressive walk total of 32 relative to his at bats brought his on-base percentage only up to .332. After being traded to the

in exchange for

on June 21, 1974, Ostrosser played for the

Oklahoma City 89ers Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colo ...

. There he played 59 games at

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and only 11 games at shortstop, since the 89ers used future Major Leaguer Tom McMillan as their regular shortstop. He batted .261 for the 89ers in 1974 with a slugging percentage of .279 and an on-base percentage of .332. In 1975, still with the 89ers, he played just 63 games, mostly at third base, where he batted just .202 with a slugging percentage of .230 and an on-base percentage of .344, ending his career.

Softball career

During the early 1980s, Ostrosser represented Canada on the national softball team. In 1980, Ostrosser was on Canada's World's men's

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

championship team.

References

External links

Brian Ostrosser
at

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrosser, Brian 1949 births Baseball players from Hamilton, Ontario Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian softball players Major League Baseball players from Canada 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Pompano Beach Mets players Memphis Blues players Marion Mets players Tidewater Tides players Oklahoma City 89ers players Living people Major League Baseball shortstops